In many software product areas, there are several competing software programs that are available to perform certain tasks. For example, there are several accounting software programs available to consumers.
Typically, each software program stores the data it generates in a different format than its competitors. For example, information stored in a single field in a single table in one computer application may be stored in multiple fields across multiple tables in a competing application.
The differences between the ways competing software applications store data creates a barrier to switching from one software application to a competing software application since changing software applications requires migrating existing data from the format of the old application to the format of the new application. Such data migration must be handled carefully to ensure that data integrity is maintained and that fields in one application are properly mapped to fields in the other application.
The discussion above is merely provided for general background information and is not intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.